We dream of the perfect wave, the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect love, and when we get there, we dream of something else, and the journey goes on.
At any given time, there are a lot of million-dollar luxury charter boats cruising around the Mentawai Islands finding the most incredible waves. And yet the people on shore are suffering. The whole scene is wrong. As a surf community, we have to do something.
The surfing - the waves in Indonesia are amazing.
Nothing could happen to me in the water that would make me want to go on the beach and fight someone. That's just not how I do things.
Truthfully, I despise hotels. I've had such better experiences staying at people's houses and guesthouses; it's so much more comfortable and homey.
To catch a wave, to stand up - it was just life-changing. There was nothing that even came close. I quit playing all other sports - by the time I was eleven, they were toast.
I've been very lucky, getting to travel the world with professional photographers. I'd grab their equipment, get a few lessons, and start firing shots.
The best meal I've had was in Tavarua, an island in Fiji. It was just before sunset. A bunch of guys had just caught all this yellow fin tuna; they literally brought this huge wooden table down to the sand, pulled the tuna from the boat, dropped it on top of the table, pulled the skin off and sliced the tuna up.
One meal I'm constantly reminded about is when I ate kangaroo tail in the desert in Australia; it wasn't necessarily my favorite, but I will always remember it.
I've always been a big supporter of the Surfrider Foundation. I started my own foundation, Rob Machado Foundation, which focuses on environmental education for the little people of the world.
You'd be surprised how cold you get in the water, especially surfing a place like Pipeline. If the tradewinds are blowing, it gets chilly and sometimes you don't catch a wave for an hour.
I think I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world. I travel around looking for the best waves and appreciate it every second.
I've never actually even contemplated writing a book or having a book.
